Illuminant.



W SUTTON.

ILLUMINANT.

APPLICATION FILED Nov, 26. 1917.

Patented July 9, HM.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WOODRUFF SUTTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 3'. GIWILSON CORPORATION, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

ILLUMINAN T.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, YVOODRUFF SUTTON, a citizen of the United States, and residing at New York city, county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illuminants, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for lighting rooms in dwellings or business buildings, factories, and other interiors, the object of the invention being to utilize to the greatest advantage the light entering a window or other opening and to provide an illumination which is pleasing and restful to the eye. The invention is an improvement in the system of lighting described in the copending application filed jointly by Messrs. Bassett, Jones, Wilson and myself, filed March 15, 1917, Serial No. 155,136. In said application there is disclosed a lighting apparatus or system comprising a series of slats which can be adjusted to various angles with respect to the line of the suns rays or the rays from any other source of light, so that the light, or the larger proportion of it, impinging upon the outer surfaces of the slats will be reflected, as from a mirror, upon the inner surfaces of the adjacent slats and again reflected in a diffused condition into the apartment to be lighted. The outer surfaces of the slats for this purposeare glazed or enameled and the inner surfaces'have a dull finish of a character suited to reflect mostof the light but in a diffused manner.

The slats may be of wood or metal in the form of Venetianblinds or other shutters. I have discovered thatthe light reflected from the inner orunder-surfaces of the slats is better diffused by breaking up the surface andthat this can be effectively accomplished by operating upon the painted under-surfaces of the slats before the paint or pigment has fully set or hardened and producing thereon a large number of closely assembled ridges or points. This can be accomplished by impressing upon the slats points or lines by means of a knurled roller or similar device. I have discovered that by using pigments in certain tints, such as very faint pink, blue or yellow, thedifi'used light will be correspondingly tinted, producing pleasing. eflects.

Referring tov the drawing: Figure 1 is. a sectional view of a window having hung therein on the inside a Venetian blind of ordinary mechanical construction whereby the slats may be tilted to different angles although always remaining parallel to each other by reason of the connecting tapes;

Fig. 2 is a-plan view showing the plain upper surface of one of the slats;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the preferred marking of the under-surface of the slats; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 3 illustrating the serrated or pointed under-surface of the slats.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail plan view of the under-surface of the slats.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates an ordinary window and B a Venetian blind of ordinary construction except as herein described. The upper surface 10 of each slat is finished in white enamel or other mirrorlike surface adapted to directly or specularly reflect substantially all of the rays of light which strike the blind, throwing the light for the most part against the undersurfaces of the adjoining slats. The inner or under-surface 11 of each slat is preferably formed as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 witha' series of points or ridges. This is pref erably accomplished by pressing a suitable device into the paint or coating ofthe slat before it has fully set. In the preferred manner of carrying out the invention a knurled roller is used in the periphery of which are diagonal crossed V-shaped grooves which leave small pyramids projecting at the intersection of each pair of grooves with a pair running in the other direction. When this roller is impressed in the paint or coating of the slat it leaves crossed ridges corresponding to the grooves and depressions corresponding to the pyramidal elevations giving to the slat surface a honeycombed appearance. The reverse of the above arrangement may be used in which a knurled surface having a honey-combed appearance will produce a surface on the slat consisting of closely associated small pyramidal elevations. Other eflects of like charactor will readily suggest themselves, the object being to produce'upon each slat a myriad of physically projecting points or ridges. In the design shown in Figs. 3 and 4, for instance, the lines or grooves may be about one-fiftieth of an inch apart which will produce twenty-five hundred intersections to the square inch or surface. This will very effectually diffuse the light throughout an apartment. By changing the angle of the slats to the source of light,

more or less light may be admitted and the distribution of the light in the apartment may be varied.

I have also discovered that by using certain tints in the paint or pigment of the under-surface of the slats the light may be I given corresponding tints such as green, red,

or yellow and this is a valuable feature of the invention inasmuch as it enables me to give special and individual treatment in lighting different subjects, such as libraries, art galleries, machine shops, dwellings, etc.

It will be evident that the invention may be embodied in other forms of shutters or Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An illuminating device comprising a plurality of parallel spaced slatsor plates adapted to be arranged between a source of light and the area to be lighted, the faces of said slats or plates toward the said source of light having an enameled or mirror-like surface adapted to specularly reflect the light upon the opposing faces of adjacent slats or plates and said opposing faces being knurled whereby they are adapted to diffuse the light, substantially as set forth, into the area to be lighted.

2. An illuminating device comprising a plurality of parallel spaced slats or plates adapted to be arranged between a source of light and the area to be lighted, the faces of the said slats or plates toward the said source of light having an enameled or mirror-like surface adapted to specularly reflect the light upon the opposing faces of adjacent slats and said opposing faces being covered with asuitable pigment or paint having a knurled surface adapted to direct and diffuse the light, substantially as set forth, into the area to be lighted.

3. An illuminating device comprising a plurality of parallel spaced slats or plates adapted to be arranged between a source of light and the area to be lighted, the faces of the said slats or plates toward the said source of light having an enameled or mirror-like surface adapted to specularly reflect the light upon the opposing faces of adjacent slats and said opposing faces being covered with a suitable pigment or paint having a knurled surface adapted to direct and diffuse the light, substantially as set forth, into the area to be lighted, the paint or pigment of said knurled surfaces being tint-ed accord.- ing to the color effect desired to be produced.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WOODRUFF SUTTON. 

